Dr Miguel Ribeiro Ramos

Miguel’s office hours vary in the Spring and Summer terms, see office door for latest details. Students are also welcome to make an appointment outside of these hours via email.

• PhD, Social Psychology, University of St. Andrews (2010)
• MSc. Psychological Research Methods, University of Exeter (2005)
• BA Psychology, ISPA, Portugal (2002)

Miguel joined the Department in September 2019 as a lecturer in sociology. Miguel completed his PhD in 2010 in social psychology at the University of St. Andrews. He had a sequence of postdoctoral positions at the University of Exeter (2010), ISCTE-IUL (Portugal, 2010-2015) and the University of Oxford (2015-2019). Miguel was a visiting scholar at Princeton University in 2017. His work has been funded by the ESRC, Fulbright Commission, the European Commission, and FCT (Portugal).

Miguel is a social psychologist working at the intersection of different fields within the social sciences.

In his research, he uses social psychological theorising to understand the processes by which social environments and individuals mutually influence each other.

He has a quantitative focus with work ranging from lab experiments to analysis of large worldwide data.

• Social Research II
• Terror, threat, and security

Prospective graduate students interested in Miguel’s research topics (see “Research” below) may contact him by email.

Miguel’s work has focused on the impact of the social environment on people’s well-being and health, especially of those who face disadvantage in our societies.

This includes studying the effects of harmful aspects of the social environment such as prejudice and discrimination, as well as beneficial ones such as the social ties and identities individuals develop when in contact. In his work he models both aspects together with the aim of understanding under which conditions intergroup contact and identity mitigate the harmful effects of discrimination, prejudice, and negative stereotyping.  

More recently, he has been interested in the effects of ethnic and religious diversity on people’s well-being. He has aimed to answer questions such as: Are we happier and more satisfied in diverse societies? Does coexisting with individuals from a different demographic background impact our well-being and health?

Miguel’s work has focused on stigmatised groups such as women, racial and ethnic minorities, and older adults. He has used a wide range of techniques spanning from lab experiments to the analysis of large surveys with worldwide data.   

He is now working on two funded research projects:

The Impact of Ethnic Diversity on Wellbeing and Health (PI with Matthew Bennett [Birmingham], Miles Hewstone [Oxford], and Douglas Massey [Princeton]). Nuffield Foundation Open Door (£219,131)

This is a three-year interdisciplinary project funded by the Nuffield Foundation, U.K. The project is concerned with understanding the effects of contemporary changes in ethnic composition of our societies. Our findings will identify risk factors, as well as positive aspects of diversity, that will inform leaders and policy makers in planning the broad range of diversity-related challenges of modern societies.

Exploring the relationship between ethnic heterogeneity, intergroup relations and stress. (with Matthew Bennett [Birmingham] and Miles Hewstone [Oxford]). ESRC Secondary Data Analysis Initiative (£199,746.)

This project seeks to advance the theoretical and empirical understanding of how variations in the ethnic composition of local areas are associated with individuals’ stress (inflammatory markers and allostatic load). We also seek to understand the impact of both negative (e.g., threat) and positive (e.g., intergroup contact) correlates of diversity, identifying the beneficial and harmful effects that may push or pull in different directions. We will analyse data contained in Understanding Society and the National Child Development Study, with an emphasis on the biomarker data, and combine them with Census-based estimates for social context and apply advanced longitudinal, multilevel and structural equation data analysis techniques.